


To Kindle Fire With Ice

by BigSciencyBrain



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Thor TDW compliant, Sweetness and Fluff, body explorations, gratutious Disney references, holidaystoking2015, physical contact trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-16 02:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5810896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigSciencyBrain/pseuds/BigSciencyBrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a raid on a HYDRA base, Steve Rogers is exposed to an experimental chamber that starts off a chain reaction, slowly turning him to ice. While Tony and Bruce investigate scientific solutions, Thor turns to Asgard and the one person he knows might be able to help them - Loki.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alby_mangroves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alby_mangroves/gifts).



Sounds of shouting and gunfire faded when Steve Rogers stepped through the doorway. He stopped, scanning over the room for potential traps or ambush before he continued. 

Another lab. He made a mental note to flag this section on the map for Tony to take a look at. No matter what HYDRA did with science, whether it was genetics modification or energy weapons, it was never, ever good. He had no doubt they'd try to put lasers on sharks one of these days. Realizing no one was around to appreciate his newly acquired movie trivia knowledge, he sighed.

"I've got a lab," he said into the comm link. "Doing a sweep, shouldn't take more than five minutes."

"Ninety percent containment here, no rush," Natasha answered back, her voice flattened by the wireless signal. As his second in command, Natasha had one cardinal rule that not even Captain America could break; everyone checked in.

The perimeter of the lab was the usual. Tall banks of boxy equipment with panel displays, buttons, knobs, and impossibly tiny labels that meant next to nothing to him. Stark kept offering to tutor him, but Steve knew well enough that 'tutor' meant strapping Steve into one of the Tony's experiments and figuring out how it worked. There was a lot of _it's not supposed to do that_ and _huh, that's funny_ every time he got suckered into saying yes.

One of the office chairs rolled and squeaked when he brushed against it, his eyes on the panels and open notebooks the scientists had left behind. Whatever they'd been doing, it hadn't been important enough for them to pack their notes. HYDRA's research protocol prioritized data and they'd seen more than enough of HYDRA's scientists sacrifice themselves to save their experiments rather than abandon their work. He relaxed. Unimportant to HYDRA usually _also_ meant less likely to kill people.

All of the support equipment existed to power and control the large, hexagonal containment block in the center of the room. It reminded him of the cell they'd created for the Hulk on SHIELD's pre-Insight helicarrier. Mostly transparent, though it didn't sound like glass when he knocked, with a wide door for loading and unloading whatever was meant to go inside. There were pipes and wires along each corner of the hexagon, all coming into the center at the top in a starburst pattern. Cautiously, he stepped inside the cell to get a closer look at the panels. There were probes or antenna of some kind. He'd never seen anything like it. He dug through his belt for the ruggedized camera they all carried to photograph the unusual.

He snapped a few close ups of the sinister probes. "Uploading some photos, Stark. You'll want to take a look at what's down here later."

"Aw, did you find a shiny toy? And you thought of me. I'm touched."

He wasn't going to go there. Tucking the camera away, he ran his hands along one of the tracks guiding the wires and pipes. The pulse of pale blue light through a thin tube startled him. Distracted, he didn't hear the soft whoosh of the cell door sliding closed behind him until a moment before it clicked shut and locked.

_Trapped._

Forcing down a panic response, he moved to the door to investigate. He couldn't see anyone in the laboratory so it must have been an automatic response or a mechanism he'd triggered. But the cell had been assembled from parts and they could always be reduced back to parts, he just had to find a weak spot or a release switch. If nothing else, he could use his shield to smash his way out. It certainly wouldn't be the first time. A low hum began to buzz in the tracks, more of the pale blue light pulsing up through them toward the center of the ceiling. 

"Okay, less good." He watched the frequency of the pulses increase. "Guys? I might need a little help."

Natasha came back immediately. "Coming your way as soon as I can."

"Thanks." The pulses raced faster and faster and the center panel above him was beginning to glow. He didn't want to think about what might happen when it finished powering up. "You might want to bring the big guy."

That got her attention. "Steve?"

He grabbed tightly onto his shield, spinning around to slam the edge against the clear material of the door. It cracked, but no more than a rock chip on a windshield. He hit it again in exactly the same spot and the crack began to spread. Around him, the hum grew louder and the light pulses were nearly on top of each other. Crack. He focused on hitting the door again and again, driving the crack outward inch by inch. Secondary cracks formed and branched out through the material. Almost there. The hum rose to a solid tone that resonated in Steve's skull and felt like it was rattling his teeth. Putting his hands over his ears had no effect at all. The entire cell, the entire lab, was bathed in a pale blue light. He had to duck his head and shut his eyes, hiding his face behind his shield and hoping whatever blast of energy was about to burst out from the panel above him wouldn't vaporize him instantly.

It _roared_ when it came. Cold energy, colder than anything he'd ever felt, stole the air from his lungs. The world went white and blue and so _cold_. He heard cracking like the chunks of a glacier sheering off to crash into the sea.

Then silence.

His ears rang. His body was sluggish, fingers still closed tight around the straps of his shield, legs bent beneath him in a crouch. A thick layer of frost had formed over his uniform, over his skin, over the metal floor beneath him and the clear walls of the cell. He was surrounded by white.

An enormous green fist came through one wall and the cell shattered like a cold glass hitting hot water. The Hulk snorted and brushed bits of it from his arm before scowling down at Steve.

He still couldn't _move_. He was frozen. _Not again, not again, not again..._

Natasha's hand felt like a branding iron. "He's ice cold. Let's get him back to the Tower. Don't worry, Steve. Thor's got about ten hair dryers. You'll be defrosted in no time."

He shot her a grateful look, trying to work his jaw loose to answer her. It took doing, but she got him to his feet and moving stiffly. He felt like the Tin Man from the _Wizard of Oz_ , left out in the rain to rust. Moving helped shake off the cold, frost falling away from him in a miniature, localized snowstorm. His limbs loosened enough to do more than shuffle, zombie-like, but the terrifying knot of cold in his chest didn't go away. He shivered on the trip home, wrapped in one of the Quinjet's emergency blankets. The shivering persisted through debrief. It took three times longer than usual to get out of his suit because his fingers kept going stiff and numb. 

A hot bath, that's what he needed. He started the water running and set the kettle on the stove next, rubbing his hands together trying to warm them. Even the tea he drank, still steaming and hot enough to scald his tongue, didn't do much to abate the cold. He poured a second mug and retreated to the bathroom.

Hot water stung his skin. He clenched his teeth tight against a groan and forced himself down anyway. He couldn't freeze again; he _couldn't_. The water eased the cold. He could feel his fingers and toes again. With relief, he let out the breath he'd been holding and sunk back against the tub, letting the water cover up to his chin, one hand still wrapped lightly around the mug on the ledge. This was all he'd needed; a nice, hot soak.

He must've dozed. When he opened his eyes again, he could feel the water had gone cold around him. He shivered. Frowning, he sat up and reached for the plug. The mug skidded over the porcelain along with his hand even though he was certain he'd let go. At least, he'd meant to let go. Peering closer, he realized the mug was _frozen_ to his hand with a layer of ice. He jumped, shaking his hand wildly as he tried to let go. The mug flew away to crash against the far wall, spraying shards of ceramic over the wall and the floor. His heart was pounding. He set the water draining and climbed out of the tub, pulling on his robe and grabbing an extra towel.

The clock on the wall showed that only fifteen minutes had passed.

Impossible. The water in the tub had been almost hot enough to burn him, there was no way it had chilled to lukewarm in only fifteen minutes. He rubbed at his hands and flakes of ice sloughed off from his skin. He was freezing. Numb, he stared down at his feet and realized there was ice on his toes as well.

He was _literally_ freezing.

"JARVIS," he said grimly. "Avengers assemble."


	2. Chapter 2

"It could be..." Tony trailed off, uncertain. He rubbed his chin a few times, then swung around in his chair and went back to swiping at his display screen. "The heat lamps are working. For now."

Steve shivered. He had a feeling he was going to be doing a lot of shivering. His fingers and toes were currently free of ice, but every time he left the warm glow of the lamps, it crept back. Now that he knew what he was looking for, he could watch it spread from his fingernails to his wrists, then up his arms. The layer was extremely thin - molecular was the word Bruce had used - but it grew thicker as it spread. 

Armed with yet another wireless thermocouple probe, Bruce added this one to the inside of Steve's ankle, taping it in place. "It's as if all of the exothermic reactions in your body are now endothermic. I've never seen anything like this, not even in the literature."

"Anything useful from the lab?" Natasha asked without looking up. She swapped another of the portable hard drives out from the data hub and replaced it. "This is the last one. Everything we pulled from HYDRA's system."

"According to this, they never got the chamber to work." Tony spun back around and shoved his chair toward the next worktable to frown at the thermocouple readings again. "Looks like it was some sort of flash freezing experiment, which, makes since, given Cap turning into an icicle. But all the reports from their testing are negative. Granted, they were testing on goats and sheep, not super soldiers. But they weren't even getting goat-cicles. A hundred percent failure as far as I can tell."

"Guess I'm just lucky then," Steve said dryly.

At the far end of Tony's table, Thor was working with Clint to sort through the dozens of banker's boxes worth of research notebooks they'd recovered. "Could it be magic? Often the limits of your science are where we find the beginnings of what is quite common in the other Realms."

Tony shrugged, clearly disliking the idea that his _science_ might have to take a backseat to another planet's lore. "Is this familiar to you at all?"

"Perhaps," Thor said cautiously. "The Frost Giants of Jotunheim can control ice and snow."

"They wouldn't happen to be short, round...look like trolls?" Clint mused, flipping through one of the notebooks. At the strange look he got from Thor, he shrugged. "Because, if we're going with the whole frozen theme-"

Natasha cut him off. "What about the Frost Giants, Thor? Would they be likely to help us?"

Thor shook his head. "It is doubtful. Jotunheim remains at war with Asgard, though it is currently a war of silence and hostility rather than open battle. But, there is one who may aid us."

"I'll take it," Steve interrupted. He was putting on a brave face for the team, but his terror was mounting. What if he fell asleep and never woke up? He could imagine all too vividly being found encased in ice and having to be thawed out, again and again and again, until finally the ice grew too quickly and too thickly, leaving him frozen forever. 

"Steve," Natasha's voice yanked him out of his thoughts. She gave him a small smile. "We're gonna figure this out." He nodded, grateful that she'd seen him spiraling into panic. 

Bruce returned with a beaker and a small scalpel. "I've got a few tests I'd like to run. If it's alright."

"What's that for?" Steve eyed the blade of the scalpel skeptically.

"Don't worry. No cutting required." Bruce took Steve's left hand out of the direct light from the heat lamp, watching as the ice began to form. Gently, he scraped away the nascent layer, collecting the crystals as they fell. "I'd like to draw blood too, after I'm through with these. We've got more than enough data we don't understand right now. One variable at a time."

"Guys," Clint said loudly. "We're kinda missing the obvious."

"Clint," Natasha said, a clear warning in her tone.

"I'm all ears, Barton." Steve pulled his hand back under the lamps as soon as Bruce was finished, relieved to see the ice retreat again.

"You really don't-" started Natasha.

"True love!" Clint crowed.

She rolled her eyes. "Really?"

Steve smiled in spite of himself, if only a little. Clint was obviously trying to lighten the mood with humor. "Ice or no ice, if you can tell me I have a soulmate or something out there and you know who it is, I'd love to hear it." He was fairly certain there _wasn't_ anyone out there for him, not in this century anyway, especially given how poor his luck seemed to be in that department. He figured whatever was in charge of luck had put all their effort into getting Steve turned into Captain America, if that could be considered lucky. Some days, it didn't feel lucky.

Holding up both hands as a peace offering, Clint added, "I'm just saying we keep our options open."

"I will return to Asgard and secure what aid I can." Visibly relieved to have more to do than read books, Thor headed for the elevator and the roof to call for Heimdall. 

"And we'll keep running tests." Bruce held up the beaker. "I've got a call in to Helen Cho, maybe she'll have some ideas of how to reverse it."

"Thanks, guys. I know you've got this," he said with more courage than he felt.

Tony shifted the discussion to mitigation. They could install heat lamps in Steve's apartment, possibly retrofit a tanning bed to provide a full body source. JARVIS had already adapted the localized climate control, but those were all temporary, stop-gap measures meant to keep him unfrozen longer. It was better than nothing and it gave him something other than the ice to focus on. As they were discussing a regime of heat therapy, Steve noticed that Clint was humming and Natasha was throwing increasingly dangerous glares in his direction.

"Guys?" He glanced between them, curious.

"I can't-" Clint started.

Natasha cut him off immediately. "Don't you dare."

With a look that could only be described as mischievous, Clint rolled his chair back from the table, clearly preparing to make a quick exit. "Let it go," he sang softly. He was out of the chair before the notebook Natasha hurled at him could do more than thud against the padded seat. "Let it go!" he crowed, heading for the nearest exit at a run.

"I will find you," Natasha shouted after him. Annoyed, she turned back to the data transfer. "Should never have let him see that movie. He's going to be impossible."

"And that's different than the status quo, how?" Tony tapped out adjustments to the calculations he was making on heat levels. After several seconds, he hummed a few notes, then stopped and sighed. "It's in my head now."

"See?" Natasha shuddered. "It's the worst."

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." 

"Wait, Stark, don't-"

"JARVIS, queue music."

"Stark, no."

"It's the only way to deal with ear worms, Romanov."

Steve watched, amused, as music flooded the lab. Natasha folded her arms, scowling at everyone, while Tony lip-synced along with the lyrics, shoving off from table to table and letting the office chair roll freely. Bruce seemed entirely unruffled by the music and Tony's swirling chair, which made Steve wonder how frequently this kind of thing happened in the lab. As though listening to Steve's thoughts, Bruce shrugged.

"Last week it was Black Sabbath. Eighty two hours of Ozzy Osborne," he said with a grimace. "I'll take a little Idina Menzel."

It was a very strange little family he'd found for himself, but Steve thought he'd keep them. Maybe he wouldn't end up frozen and lose them all. Firmly, he set his dread and his doubts aside. They would find a solution; they always did. If Asgard could send help, even better.

When Thor returned several hours later with a chained and smirking Loki in tow, all Steve could think was the old adage of being careful what he wished for.

"I thought you were going to bring a Frost Giant," Tony said when he looked up. He frowned at Loki. "J, kill the music so Thor can explain what the hell is going on. What's he doing here?" Loki bristled visibly, glaring daggers at Tony, but he kept silent and took the seat Thor held for him.

"Loki can help," Thor said earnestly. 

Arms folded, Tony met Loki's glare without flinching. "In return for what? A get out of jail free card?" 

"Do you want my help or not?" Loki snapped sourly, his question directed to Thor.

Thor motioned to Steve. "Captain Rogers has been exposed to an experiment of his enemy, HYDRA. We are seeking a way to reverse its effects and return him to health."

"He looks fine to me." Loki's gaze flickered to Steve, dragging over him with a nearly palpable disdain. "He's alive."

"No need to sound so disappointed." Steve began disconnecting the thermocouple probes. "Probably easier if I just show you. Since we don't have any idea what's happening." With Bruce's help, he collected all of the probes and set them carefully on the table, then adjusted the heat lamps so he could stand up and move closer to Loki. 

Immediately, he felt ice begin to build at the tips of his fingers and toes. It spread like a wave of cold water, rising up his skin and beginning to fill in wherever there was a dip or valley, growing thicker by the second. By the time he was standing in front of Loki's chair, there was a visible sheen of ice and frost was beginning to cling to his clothes. Loki was paying attention, Steve could tell that much, but his expression was inscrutable. He wondered if Loki would simply claim ignorance, if he did know how to help them, and let Steve freeze out of sheer spite.

"Interesting," Loki murmured. He held his cuffed hands out to Thor. "If you wish me to examine him, I will need the use of my hands." Thor hesitated, but reached out to disengage the bindings and pull them away. Loki stood and walked around Steve in a slow circuit, studying him. "How quickly does it grow?"

"Fast." Steve thought that would've been obvious.

"Is it accelerating?"

Steve frowned, uncertain, but Tony answered for him. "Yes. It's not much of an acceleration. A few joules per second. But it'll add up, eventually."

He looked sharply at Tony. "What does that mean?"

"It means that unless I can help you," Loki said flatly, "you have no hope." His expression turned sly. "What would be granted in exchange for my help?"

"Loki," Thor said, his tone a warning.

Steve ignored them both. There was already a solid layer of ice over his arms; he could feel the weight of it and knew it would crack into pieces if he moved. "If you can help, then tell us what we need to know. If it's worth it, maybe we can reach an agreement. We parole prisoners for good behavior here on Earth, maybe Asgard could do the same." He was reaching and Loki would know it, but it wasn't as if they had other options.

With a roll of his eyes, as though this were the most tedious of tasks, Loki reached out to touch Steve's arm. "It appears to be a mistake. An unintended consequence." He stopped short when his fingers made contact and the ice began to retreat. His eyes widened.

"How?" Steve stared down at his arm, watching thin slivers of ice slough away from his skin. Where Loki was touching him felt _warm_. "How are you doing that?"

"I'm not." Loki quickly pulled his hand away. Immediately, the ice began to reform. More cautiously this time, Loki let his hand settle on Steve's arm, his fingers curling lightly below Steve's elbow. "I'm doing nothing. But it seems," he frowned and Steve thought he saw apprehension in his face. "It seems that so long as I am touching you, the ice cannot form."

The room was so silent that Steve wished JARVIS would bring the music back. His mind was already spinning through the ramifications of what Loki was saying, and from the look on Loki's face, he'd already realized what Steve was just beginning to understand.

"This is incredibly bad," Tony finally said.

Loki swallowed, not meeting Steve's gaze. "For once, Stark, your limited powers of deduction are adequate. This is...unfortunate."

"Until we figure something else out..." Tony trailed off. Then he clapped once, smiling brightly. "Guess you've got a new roomie, Cap. Fun for you."

"Oh no. No." He startled when Loki pulled his hand way, reaching out for him almost unconsciously. "That's not what I...Loki."

"If you'd prefer to freeze," Loki said haughtily.

"Versus being stabbed in the back while I sleep?" He threw back, scowling. 

"What assurance have I that you won't do the same?"

"Because I will _freeze_ without you, is that good enough?" It took a great deal of willpower not to reach out to touch Loki, to cling to him if that's what it took. The ice was forming again and the cold seemed to settled deeper into his body with every passing second. "It's only temporary. Until we find a way to reverse it."

"I doubt Asgard will allow-" Loki began.

"Of course," Thor interrupted, ignoring the furious look from Loki. "I will arrange for my brother to remain here until this matter is settled."

Dismissively, Loki held out a hand. "If I have no other choice."

Steve took hold of Loki's wrist, trying not to grip too hard in his desperation. Once again, the ice began to retreat. It was such a sweet, if tenuous, relief to feel the cold ebb away that he caught himself swaying on his feet and Loki gave him a strange look. "Alright, how do we do this?"

"Upgrading security in your apartment for one thing." Tony was already working, initiating commands and requests for additional alterations. "We'll scratch the heat lamps. More prison bars for Princess Elsa here, less tropical island."

This, Steve thought glumly, was incredibly bad.


End file.
